Jack Smith Deputy Reveals New Details on Seizure of Rep. Scott Perry’s Phone

Newly released interview transcripts with members of former special counsel Jack Smith’s team shed new light on the taking of the cell phone of Rep. Scott Perry, a Pennsylvania Republican, in 2022.

The House Judiciary Committee released the interview transcripts of five prosecutors from the Smith team.

J.P. Cooney, who served as deputy special counsel under Smith, also said he does not recall prosecutors discussing whether to seek Perry’s consent before obtaining a search warrant for his phone.

Cooney’s testimony, released Tuesday by the House Judiciary Committee, provides new details about the decision-making surrounding the seizure of a sitting member of Congress’ cellphone and the potential separation-of-powers implications of the investigation.

Cooney acknowledged that he participated in discussions about obtaining the warrant for Perry’s phone.

Smith’s team investigated several Republican members of Congress that supported Donald Trump’s dispute of 2020 election outcomes.

Cooney said Perry was given an opportunity to inspect the phone and assert privilege before government officials inspected its contents.

He was asked if taking a phone from a member of Congress is different from taking it from someone else.

“I don’t believe that the law requires us to take specific steps with respect to a member of Congress that are not taken with respect to others, other than the Speech or Debate Clause,” Cooney said.

The Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause is intended to protect Congress from interference by the executive branch in the performance of legislative duties.

Cooney acknowledged that Department of Justice policy requires approval through the department’s Public Integrity Section when a member of Congress may be the subject of a search warrant.

“My recollection is that we complied with the requirements in the Justice Manual,” he said.

Cooney also could not recall how long Perry was without his cellphone.

“I don’t have any recollection about discussing the way in which the search warrant would be executed,” he told the members.

Another Smith prosecutor, Timothy Duree, told members it would not have been easier to ask for the phone.

“I don’t believe it would have been easier. For all the reasons that I described in the last hour that I’m sure you were listening to, if you seek to obtain something voluntarily, people can just choose not to give it to you,” Duree said, according to the transcript.

“There are myriad opportunities for evidence to be altered, tampered with, deleted, added to and in this search warrant, same as any others, as I just explained in the last hour, it was important to me and our team to obtain the evidence in a way that was unadulterated,” he added.

Other interview transcripts released included prosecutor Molly Gaston, prosecutor Ray Hulser, Thomas Windom, and former Department of Justice Office of Inspector General Special Agent Brian Burnett.